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By The Bakersfield Californian

We never hear about armed lunatics running through the halls of Congress killing innocent people. Likewise, we never hear about armed gunmen randomly shooting people at airports, banks or courthouses. Are politicians, air passengers, lawyers and currency more valuable than America's children? By what we protect, one could easily draw that conclusion.

What we do hear is the lunacy of gun control as a panacea for this violent epidemic. In fact, gun control supporters refuse to detail the facts about gun control and school shootings, namely epic failure. Slews of laws have been passed since 1989 after the Stockton schoolyard shooting, yet since then the shootings have increased in number and intensity across the nation.

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We require security similar to what we use to protect politicians, money and airplane passengers. We know that only force of arms stops those intent on murder and that's how we stop these acts from occurring except at schools. It's not rocket science, people. That's the only solution that has a proven track record against these attacks.

The other ridiculous notion that we hear after every school shooting is that we don't "need" high-capacity centerfire weapons to hunt or target-shoot with. The Second Amendment protects democracy; armed citizens can wrest control of their nation from despotic tyrants and restore constitutional democracy. The Second Amendment was not written for hunting or plinking. After all, you don't "need" to own a car when a moped will get you there. Think, people.

The body of a large paddle-tailed rodent was found early Tuesday in the traffic lanes of southbound Mohawk Street north of Truxtun Avenue, suggesting Bakersfield's fabled bike path beaver -- scourge of local saplings -- may have died.

The lush grasses and sweeps of wildflowers cloak much of the damage to the small canyon in a blanket of ephemeral green. But Ellen Cypher and Erin Tennant can see it as they walk along a sandy route that has been churned into the bottom of the wash by motorcyclists and quad riders.

Even Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez's self-serving, disingenuous and downright contemptuous ranting against a proposed ban of Piccolo Pete and ground flower-type fireworks wasn't nearly as stunning to me as Supervisor David Couch's silence and eventual vote against the ban.